1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to board or street games using a field of play and a set of opposing goals and more particularly to a specific game of this type with particular methods of play and scoring simulating that of American Football.
2. Description of Related Art
The following art defines the present state of this field:
Reynolds, U.S. D315,279 describes a projectile game piece.
Roberts, U.S. D323,011 describes a football game piece.
Dozier, U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,114 describes a puck for use in a parlor game played on a table top or the like in which the principal object is to flip the puck with a finger and lag it to overhang the opposite edge of the table; the puck comprises a body of foam material with vertical sides with a low density of approximately three pounds per cubic foot and in the shape of an acute triangle having sides somewhat more than two inches; corners of said triangle are rounded to a radius of about one-quarter inch; the puck is about one-half inch thick and has a bottom surface layer of non-woven nylon fabric with a coefficient of sliding friction on clean, dry glass of approximately 0.8. The top of the foam body has adhered thereto a triangular piece of plastic sheet material on which advertising or other indicia may be printed.
Blagg, U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,323 describes a board game representing a sport, such as football. The game has a playing board, which represents the playing field. Player disks represent players, and a ball disk represents the football. The ball disk has beveled edges, so that it will slide over the player piece when the ball disk is propelled across the playing board. The ball disk is propelled by thumping the ball disk with a finger.
Hinkes, U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,858 describes a system and process for forming an instant, fixedly attached but removable game court on any type of concrete, black-top, asphalt, or like outdoor hard surface, which allows a game involving frictional contact of the players with the hard surface to be played on the game court without the removal of the game court, and the subsequent easy removal of the game court by rinsing of the hard surface with water from a conventional garden hose or by natural rainwater.
Stites, U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,095 describes a game board with an elongated rectangular shaped member having a top side. At each end, a series of axial scoring numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and a series of lateral scoring numbers 1, 2, 3 are formed on the top side.
Robinson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,888 describes a football game and football game apparatus in which a simulated football is thumped by the finger of a player to place the football in play and move the football to various locations on a board provided with the game. The football apparatus includes a game board having a planar playing surface, yard lines and goal lines marked thereon, movable goal posts, and a trough adjacent to the goal lines to catch the simulated football. The game board may be supported by legs, or placed on the top of a table.
Bonk, U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,912 describes a table football game which comprises a table football having a flat configuration. The table football game further comprises a table which comprises a first table edge and a second table edge. The first table edge and the second table edge are positioned on opposing sides of the table. The table football game further comprises at least one first player performing an action selected from a group consisting of first player""s kick, first player""s goal, first player""s palm, first player""s finger shooting, and first player""s palm shooting. The table football game further comprises at least one second player performing an action selected from a group consisting of second player""s kick, second player""s goal, second player""s palm, second player""s finger shooting, and second player""s palm shooting. A result occurs from the action performed by the at least one first player and the at least one second player. The result is selected from a group consisting of table football touchdown having table football touchdown points associated therewith, table football extra point, table football two-point conversion, table football field goal having table football field goal points associated therewith, table football bonk having table football bonk points associated therewith, and winning points.
Barnhart et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,996 describes a football game piece in the form of a triangular shaped, relatively flat playing piece having equal length side edges and a longer side edge, and with the corners formed by the side edges being relatively rounded and squared-off for safety purposes. In addition, the squared-off corner prevents the game piece from sliding when the game piece is in an upright position on the squared-off corner. The game piece is formed by a core section made of lightweight foam material, and first and second woven fabric veneers having relatively slick outer surfaces, to allow game piece to slide across a table, game board or other non-porous surface.
The prior art teaches the use of games and game pieces for use in finger and foot manipulated games and indeed game pieces for such games as in Reynolds and Roberts as defined above, but does not teach a game with game structure and rules of play as defined herein in simulating American Football. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.
The present invention teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.
A game apparatus and method of play by a pair of opponents, uses a game board on a level surface or field. A game board indicia resembles an American-Football field with two spaced apart and opposing end zone front lines. A triangularly shaped and flatly formed game piece provides numerical values at its three corners. The game piece is suitable for sliding on the game board, and is thrust back and forth on the board by the contestants or opponents, with game piece generally in contact with the game board, until the game piece is positioned on one of the end zone front lines. Values or scores are assigned to the opponents corresponding to how the game piece is situated on the end zone front lines. Additional points may be acquired through aerial thrusts of the game piece through an upright goal situated in each of the end zones of the game board.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method of use of such apparatus that provides advantages not taught by the prior art.
Another objective is to provide such an invention capable of simulating American Football play with only as few as two individual opponents.
A further objective is to provide such an invention capable of being played through hand or foot manipulation of a game piece.
A still further objective is to provide such an invention capable of simulating the scoring process found in American Football play.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.